a good meme - pro-choice

[keryx]

If you agree with this statement, post it in your journal/edit as needed:

I am pro choice and I would:
have an abortion
help a person receive an abortion, without judgement
learn how to provide or help women have access to abortions should it ever become illegal, no matter the legal repercussions
[further, because this ties quite nicely to another frustrating position re: abortion and reproductive freedom]
if I changed my mind about any of these things, still support real sex education, free healthcare, stopping gender-based violence, de-stigmatizing women's sexuality and instituting a universal living wage, thereby eliminating many of the situations that result in abortions.

From most everyone I know on LJ. To quote belladonnalin:This is the opposite of "I'm pro-choice, but I would ABSOLUTELY NEVER HAVE AN ABORTION, so now I will proceed to pretend to have a moral authority over those of you who exercise the exact right that I say you should have."

Comments

[libskrat]

I am pro-choice, and if I were to get pregnant, I would certainly abort, because my tubes are tied, so any pregnancy would probably be ectopic and kill me otherwise.

[jadelennox]

It's mostly true for me, but I would ask questions of a friend who asked my help in obtaining an abortion, unless she specifically said, "look, I just need someone who'll come with me and not talking about it". It's a major medical procedure that haunts lots of people for years after it's done, no matter how pro-choice they are, and I'd want to make sure as a friend that they weren't being pressured into it, just as much as I would if it were, say, a hysterectomy. Not to judge, but because good friends ask. And if she would tell me to shut the hell up and be supportive, I would be.

In fact, as I recall, that's exactly what happened.

Otherwise, I completely agree.

[fooltheworld.livejournal.com]

I'm really confused by this whole thing. I am pro-choice but I wouldn't have an abortion. I don't say that though, to pretend I am moral. It's just me. I think no less of anyone who has had one and I would help someone else (and have). So this makes me a bad person, not really pro-choice? I don't get it. And I'm not being flippant, I really want to understand what I am missing here.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

There's a big difference, I think, between believing that you wouldn't want to have an abortion but it's totally okay for anyone else to - that is, not claiming to be pro-choice while arguing that abortion is eeevil. Like, I prefer not to use hormonal birth control, but I don't think this makes me smarter, more moral or entitled to lecture other people about why they shouldn't, and I've advocated for things like company health plans covering it.

S'all I'm saying. There's been some pretty obnoxious commenting from moralistic pro-choice-but-anti-abortion peeps in various communities lately.

[fooltheworld.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen that so that's the context I'm lacking, thanks!

[snidegrrl.livejournal.com]

My resounding silence on this is kind of echoed in what mom2boysbh said above; I am pro-choice but I wouldn't but I keep my damn mouth shut about that second part because I'm not trying to make a judgement, it is just my prediction on how I'd react to a pregnancy. Ther've been times in my life when I would have, but that time isn't now. I understand why it needs to be out there that people are not just pro-choice but OK with abortion personally. Anyways, that's why you haven't seen me post a form of this meme, or basically get involved in much discussion that centers around the 'would you' topic. My voice about my personal choice isn't the one that needs airing at the moment.

*shrug* I hope that makes some sense.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I think I get you, but I'm not sure that's a reason for silence. Would you help someone else get an abortion? It might be useful in some of this discussion to know there isn't a total division of pro-choice folk over this, that there are people who believe they wouldn't want an abortion right now who will still strongly defend others' willingness to do so without shaming them.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

I should have said, btw, "not sure that necessitates silence", not what I actually said. Bah!

[peregrin8.livejournal.com]

see, you don't mention the 2nd part in situations where it's not useful input; that is cool. I am childless by choice and intend never to have kids, but I wouldn't bring that up in a thread where someone else was complaining about the lack of childcare options or support for mothers; it would be inappropriate in the extreme. I often feel that women who go "but I would never!" in abortion threads are doing so in a judgmental way.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

That's a good point - I mean, the issue isn't whether you would or wouldn't (I actually have no idea unless faced with a specific situation & context) make the same decision as another woman, but whether you truly support her right to make that decision. When the second part of K's statement gets brought up, it's almost invariably not to clarify the speaker's complex position, but to state that abortion is wrong, and anyone who finds herself making that choice is stupid/immoral/whatever.

So maybe the "I would have an abortion" meme doesn't really get to the heart of this - that you can not want an abortion (or a child, a job, whatever) without making your position judgemental.

Although (now I'm going way off-topic) there are some positions to which this applies, and others I'm not as sure about. Is questioning another woman's choice to have an abortion or a child akin to questioning her choice to diet? That is, is it okay to question the social/feminist impact of it? I don't think the two relate, but maybe someone else would argue that - certainly the language I used earlier in this very same comment kinda begs that "choice" question.

[cutegaychick.livejournal.com]

I've tried to comment on this twice today and my LJ crashed both times. I'm tired of writing out the long version. Here's the short version:

I wouldn't have an abortion now but I'll happily drive you to the clinic and pay for yours.